Category: Members

For many years our club has had a tradition of doing a “white elephant gift exchange” at our last meeting of the year. This celebrates the season and is a fun way to give and get from each other. This gift exchange is a chance to get rid of something you don’t want any more. You might say: one person’s junk is another person’s treasure.
Poorana introduced the white elephant tradition to our guests Chris (from TM Heidelberg), Altun, Simon and Lena who participated for the first time in a Toastmasters meeting.  He introduced the team of the evening: Chris jumped in as Grammarian, Gabi took the important timer role and Katharina functioned as General Evaluator.
The word of the evening was kismet – destiny or fate. Example: “Let your kismet decide what gift you will get this evening.”

The table topics session was based on the white elephant gifts. Once the members get their gift they have 1 to 2 minutes to tell what is so special, great, fantastic about the gift.

• Oliver received a big paper sun. He described how important it is to have the sun in the dark season of the year.
• Chris picked a thermal cup. She uses it as a reminded to drink more and elaborated about health issues.
• Lena received a gift in a bright orange color, usage unclear. She saw in it a perfect match to many things and was very enthusiastic about the gift.
• Gabi got a piggy bank in the shape of a washing machine. For her a perfect reminder to save money when washing.
• Simon received a gadget with three ugly dwarfs. He seemed to be happy about new flat mates.
• Katharina received her own gift back. It is kismet she cannot get rid of it but she will try again next year.

We had two prepared speeches.
Nadine did her Icebreaker with the title “A year without alcohol”. She explained her motivation to refrain from alcohol and described her experiences. Her speech was evaluated by Oliver who praised the speaking skills she showed already in her first speech.
Shruti did her second speech in the path Presentation Mastery. Focus of her speech was body language and vocal variety. In her speech, “my experiences in Germany”, she gave us personal stories about public transportation and hospitals and compared these to her life in India. Sybille evaluated her speech and suggested a more catchy title to the speech and to check the unintended body movement which made it a bit hectic.

The GE Katharina rounded off the meeting with her evaluation of all roles. All in all an enjoyable and inspiring evening according to our guests.

The awards went to Katharina for the best Table Topic Speech. Nadine was the best speaker of the evening. There was a draw between to two evaluators Sybille and Oliver.

Thanks to Sybille for this great recap!

Have a peaceful and fulfilling holiday season, best wishes, 

Jeff, Mannheim Int. Toastmasters

Remember: The next meeting will be on January 10, 2023 – Online!

Here is a photo of the group this evening:

“Do not wait until the conditions are perfect to begin. Beginning makes the conditions perfect.”  Alan Cohen

As Presiding Officer, our VP-Ed. Oliver welcomed everyone, and especially our two guests; Caroline, who has visited the club once in-person, and Hadi, who is a newcomer to Toastmasters. Both live presently in or near Mannheim.

I had the pleasure to be the Toastmaster of the Evening, and as such I had the support of the following roles: Gabi gave the word of the day (“invigorating”), as well as an quote fitting to the them of new beginnings as the Thought of the Day;  Uli jumped in spontaneously to do the Timer job (well done!); Oliver gave a funny story for the Joke; Nadine was grammarian, and Poorana took the role of General Evaluator.

Oliver also brought some great and challenging questions for Table Topics.

• Nadine talked about “starting a new chapter in her life”  She movingly told how she left a steady and safe job to follow her heart, a move she never regretted.
• Gabi took the question: “which chapter in you life would like to close.”  She shared with us the different work fields she had learned which took her afar in the world, and how she landed back at an older occupation that suits her today.
• Caroline took the challenge and talked about “when it was time to say farewell for her own good.” She shared a very personal and moving story about having to take distance from a close family member, and how this was the best for her and the family.
• JP talked about “a life chapter that was closed, which he only later realized”.  He talked about his moving from the great city of Mannheim to the smaller and more peaceful town of Walldorf. There are always trade-offs in changes we make.

Nadine was voted best Table Topics Speaker. Congrats, Nadine!

We had two prepared speeches.  Shruthi gave her Ice-Breaker with the title:  Life is not what it is, but how you take it . He Evaluator JP praised her storytelling, and gave some concrete tips on improving, i.e., making sure she is easily seen by getting better lighting.The second speaker was Alexya who was working on the project: Visionary Communication #3-1 – Develop a Communication Plan.  I gave Alexya the evaluation, underlying the strength of her message that both content and form are important in communication.  The title of her speech said it all: Plan your work and work your plan.
Poorana led us through the evaluation part of the meeting and gave everyone who didn’t have one an evaluation.  As he said, the meeting went smoothly and was a again a fun learning time together.

Hope you enjoyed this recap.  Join us on the 13th of December for our last (in-person) meeting of the year.

Best Toastmaster wishes, Jeff

Mannheim Int. Toastmasters

Here a photo of the meeting:

“Do not spoil what you have by desiring what you have not; remember that what you now have was once among the things you only hoped for”. Epicurus

In our third in-person meeting three prepared speeches and three dedicated evaluations were delivered. An evening full of inspiring ideas and lots of fun.

Caroline and Alexandro were our guests, and both gave extremely positive feedback to the evening.
Evening was conducted by Sybille as Toastmaster, Oliver as General Evaluator, Alexia took the time role and gave the word of the day “saint-like”. The word was used once in the evening.

How can you achieve contentedness, adjust your perspective to appreciate what you have so that e.g. you  you start enjoying the sunshine instead of complaining about sunburn?
Sybille gave some tips like – live in the present, be grateful for what you have, appreciate little things, take time to reflect, stop comparing yourself to others, fake it till you make it (do not complain when you feel bad), love yourself.

Uli explained the function of Table Topics and asked three questions:

1. Who is your longest friend and how do you feel the connection? Florian referred to his wife and described a very close connection to her.
2. Which celebration or festival embodies connectedness for you most?
Shruti gave us an insight into the culture in India with lots of festivals and described the festival of lights.
3. How did you maintain a personal feeling of connectedness during the pandemic? Our guest Caroline talked about the way she kept in touch with her family in Kenia.
We had three prepared speeches. In his path presentation mastery Florian focused on the project effective body language. In his speech with the title “surprisingly different impact on climate change among grocery bags”,  he compared the environmental impacts of different kinds of grocery bags. His speech was evaluated by Shruti, who jumped in that role and did it for the first time. Well done Shruti. She praised Florian’s speaker qualifications and mentioned that the body language could have been a bit stronger in some parts.

The second speech was Gabi’s Icebreaker. She spoke about how Origami came into her life and how it accompanied her over the years until now. With nice prompts she led us through the history of her life till now and all the different places she had been to. Martin, her dedicated evaluator, congratulated Gabi for her excellent speech. He especially loved her enthusiasm and the positive energy of her speech.

A very different speech was given by Katharina. It focused on leadership and compared different leading approaches in the voluntary field and a professional working environment. In her title she referred to the quotation: “You don’t have to be a Schnitzel in order to roast it” and explained its meaning. Her speech was evaluated by Oliver who praised a well structured and presented speech.

This evening we could vote for three functions. The best TT award went to Shruti. Congratulations. The best evaluator was Martin and the best speaker Gabi. Congratulation to all winners. Thank you to everyone taking part in the meeting which was again a very joyful and inspiring evening.

“Contentedness is natural wealth, luxury is artificial poverty”, Sokrates

Thanks to Sybille for this fine recap!

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Join us for our next (online) meeting on the 22. of November.

Best Toastmaster greetings, Jeff

Mannheim Int. Toastmasters